I wasn’t looking for the Olympus OM-1n, I think it was looking for me.
Olympus OM-1 on Craigslist
Special thanks to Wayne and Jo Ann from near Mount Prospect, IL. I was malingering on the Internet being sad about being outbid on a Yashica EE rangefinder when I did a daily search on Craigslist. Today I searched on the word Olympus.
I got lucky.
I emailed the sellers, I’ll buy your Olympus OM-1n, just call me immediately. They called me and I purchased the camera, two lenses, flash, case, original manuals the next day for $45. That was a deal for me, hopefully a deal for them. I hope Wayne and Jo Ann enjoy their move to Florida (best wishes).
Olympus OM-1n – Technical Details
Photo.net has an excellent review of the history of the Olympus OM camera line.
The Camera Site has good technical details on the Olympus OM-1n camera.
Provenance or History
No fancy provenance on this camera, just a short history.
A couple in their 60’s newly retired owned the camera and their daughter was the last person to use it. But they took care of the camera, two lenses, and flash. Even the original instruction manuals. Unfortunately the fake leather case had a tear in it. But a camera in very good shape.
My Repairs for the Olympus OM-1, None
I certainly didn’t repair the camera but I did spend some time researching the battery problem and driving around trying to resolve the battery problem.
Olympus OM-1n Battery
Yes, you will need to do some footwork to find a good battery replacement for your camera. They don’t make that mercury battery anymore. There’s a good discussion of the replacement for the 1.3v mercury battery at Photo.net. I ended up following this advice.
- Purchased a 1.4 v Rayovac battery. It’s called a Wein cell and I believe its correct identifier is L675ZA-8ZM. It’s a battery commonly used for hearing aids. Eight of them in a pack for $10 or $12. Now I’m rich in batteries I don’t need.
- Purchased a #9 O Ring from a hardware store to hold the battery in place in the battery chamber. It’s called an “O” ring. Finding it at your large hardware store may not be easy. It’s only about $2.00 but you need to buy 10 “O” rings so you can use one of them. A bit wasteful.
(I had a great chat with the Japanese-American staffer deep into his sixties who helped me find the “O” “thingy” at Lowe’s. He owned a Rolleiflex. He wasn’t interested in selling.)
How does the Olympus OM-1 feel?
At first it felt disturbingly small, too light. That’s just because its significantly lighter than my Canon AE-1, Pentax K1000 and other SLR cameras. But today, pausing to take a few photographs after visiting the dentist’s office in Skokie, my Olympus OM-1 felt nice and light.
There’s something else. As I photograph with the Olympus OM-1 I have a confidence that the photos will come out well. How strange is that? I hope I’m right.
Nice features of the Olympus OM-1.
- Light. Yes, it is light. But in a good way.
- Nice sound. Not too loud, not too soft, just right when you press the shutter.
- Feels good. When you press the shutter, the camera shake is minimal. SLR cameras do shake a little but not this one. The camera shake actually feels like a well made piece of machinery working.
Problems? Yes.
- Shutter speed. The shutter dial is at the base of the lens. I’m not used to that. Seems a bit awkward. But if Mr. Maitani designed it that way, he had good reasons to do so..
- Batteries. Purchasing a battery and the “O” ring at Lowe’s was a bit of a hassle.
- On/Off switch. The light meter is on or off. If you forget to turn it off, the battery runs out.
The Olympus OM-1 feels nice on my shoulder and fun to shoot. I look forward to the result.
Sadly, I now know that the Olympus OM-1n tends to overexpose with my 1.35 v replacement battery. I did everythng the right way for replacing the battery (Internet instructions). I need to purchase the original 1.35v mercury battery or not use a battery at all. The mercury PX625 battery is sold outside the U.S. If you don’t want to use a mercury battery, just use a light meter.
Olympus OM-1n Sample Photos
Gosh darn it. Again I made the same mistake I made on my Vivitar camera. The exposure count was at 2 or 3 and I “assumed” or hoped that there was film in the camera. So I thoughtfully shot 24 exposures of nothingness. No film.
Never again. From now on, I’m just popping open the back of the camera to see if I have film. No more hoping to get a free roll of film in a camera and wasting photo opportunities.
Repeat after me.
If you think your old camera has some film in it, don’t guess, test it. Try to turn the film rewind knob clockwise. If you feel resistance, there’s film in the camera. If there’s no resistance, no film.
My Second Roll of Film
Even after finding the correct battery for the Olympus OM-1n, the photos consistently came out overexposed. What a disappointment. But here goes, you need to see some of them.
That photo wasn’t so bad. A little overexposed but not as bad as I thought when viewed on my home computer. Apparently your computer or laptop display can trick you into thinking something is overexposed. But still, it’s overexposed. Here’s another photo.
Sorry, those are geese, not ducks. But the shot is overexposed. I was very careful in taking these photos, the meter indicated this was a perfect exposure. But its washed out.
This is a good photo from my first roll for the Olympus OM-1n, although it is a bit overexposed.
I am no longer a purist. Testing over 30 film cameras has taught me that ultimately, I do want a good photograph from an old camera. If I owned a film lab I would process my photos for their best possible look. Since I do not own a lab but do have access to www.Picnik.com software, I do process my photos.
Here is the Ivy Closeup processed with Picnik’s autoexposure feature. Do you like it better than the original?
Try setting the iso using the sweet16 rule instead. That should compensate for the battery overvoltage…
Wayne,
Thanks for dropping by my website.
After purchasing my Gossen Digisix I realized I could have used the sweet 16 rule all along, or at least done some bracketing.
On my Flickr account I experimented with “auto exposure” and the Olympus shots do look lovely.
I’ll definitely do another test role with my Olympus OM-1n. I hope you return to my website. Thanks.
Richard
Hi,
I,ve got an OM1n on it’s way to me. What I intend to do is use an adapter for SR44 batteries. I already have a few of those; used them in another camera. That seemed to work well. Even so, I’ll test the metering against a separate meter. I already have an OM4 ti (spot-on), an a few OM10’s (they vary in their metering). I want an OM1, by the way, because it’s mechanical. I’m always having trouble with batteries (forget to bring spares, haven’t a coin for the slot, brought the wrong ones, have new ones and therefore no spares – but they’re no good, or batteries seemed ok, but it’s too cold. That’s about it…..sofar.)
Best to you and your site, Bert
Bert,
Perhaps if I purchased a voltage adapter for the OM1n it would work perfectly.
For now, I just bracket my photos when shooting the OM1n using my Gossen Digisix and some common sense.
The photos have a nice clarity and then I process them through Picnik software and adjust their exposure.
Sometimes, old film cameras aren’t perfect in their light metering for various reasons.
Thanks for visiting my website, its appreciated.
Richard
Hello Richard the problem you experienced with your OM1n leaves me a bit puzzled.
For an OM1 to over-expose, it means the camera was expecting *more* voltage than the 1.35V/1.4V battery was giving (even though that’s what the camera was designed for) and so causing the meter to under-read the true amount of light in the scene. Is it possible your example has already been converted to 1.5V, which would in fact explain your results?
My OM1n has not been converted. The Wein cells you mention, and even normal 1.4V zinc/air hearing-aid batteries, work without any problem, giving correct exposures. However, if I was to use normal 1.5V silver-oxide battery, the camera would under expose, because the higher voltage would cause the meter to over state the amount of light in the scene.
I do hope that makes sense. All the best from England 🙂
John,
Thanks for visiting. I’ve never been to England, hope to visit one day with my wife.
My OM1n had a 1.4v zinc/air battery in it. That’s why I was confused with the not so good exposures.
Even with my like new light meter and photo bracketing, the success with my Olympus OM1n and its exposures was imperfect.
Richard